Why Do I Have (not provided) in my Analytics Keyword Reports?

You have probably noticed that when you view reports in Google Analytics the term (not provided) often appears near the top of the keywords driving traffic to the site. For many of the larger sites I've looked at, it is often the single highest keyword term.

Why does the keyword report show (not provided)?

This (not provided) keyword will show on any report that includes information for Google natural search visitors.  This is down to a change rolled out in November 2011 by Google. They decided that they would no longer pass on the search term used by anyone logged into any Google account when they made the search.

Unfortunately, due to Google's strength in email (with Gmail) social media (with Google+, YouTube) and other tools, such as Adwords, Analytics and Apps, more and more site visitors complete searches while logged into a Google account. This means that a substantial proportion of your site traffic will have their keywords hidden.

Why did Google hide the keyword search data?

Google stated in their official announcement of the change that the main reason was to make search more secure for their users.There has been a lot of debate as to whether this is actually the true reason but the effects are the same - for a substantial proportion of your data you cannot see what search terms they are using.
Unfortunately, this may have started a trend, as Firefox have recently stated that they are planning to make all Google searches secure by default, which will have the same effect as being logged in.
There is a possibility for websites to use searches from logged in users to identify the specific visitor, something Google Analytics has always prevented you from doing. This change will reduce that, but at the cost of losing critical information on a substantial proportion of your traffic.

So what's the big deal about losing keyword data?

Active website managers are always looking at the keyword data and the pages it is landing on to ensure they are providing the best service for their visitors. If you see a substantial growth in a particular keyword can influence re-writes and new pages being added.
For instance, on this blog I've written a beginners guide to installing Google Analytics.  If I was looking at the search traffic for this page, and noted a substatial number of searches for 'How do I test My Google Analytics installation?, I'd probably write a new post specifically on that topic and link to it from the original. Without this information, I would never know I am getting traffic that is not finding what it is looking for.
Unfortunately, for many on the sites I've reviewed since the change, traffic under (not provided) has higher bounce rates and lower conversion than the site average, but there is no direct way to improve the experience for those visitors.

Is there anything I can do to get round (not provided)?

There is no way of getting that information back Google is blocking it at the source, so even switching to a different analytics package will not get the information back. However, there are some techniques to reduce the impact.

• Use Adwords traffic data. Traffic from visitors who click on a paid ad still provide the keyword data. This has led to critisism about  double standard, but at least you can use this data to analytse keyword bounce and conversion rates if you are running and adwords campaign.
• Use segments to hide this data. You can create a custom Advanced Segment to hide the traffic that comes in with a Seatch matching exactly '(not provided)'. This will at least allow better analysis of the information you do have, and improvements to poorly perfoming terms you are aware off will improve the experience for the visitors where you cannot see the terms.
• Ask visitors directly. There is nothing to stop you triggering an on-site survey to get direct feedback. You may even be able to ask only those where the keywor data is blocked.
• Use on-site search data. By logging the usage of your on-site search box - the landing pages, keywords used and the outcomes - you may be able to determine what searches are not providing the visitors with what they want on the landing page.
• Ask Google to change their policy. While there are some good reasons for hiding this data, Google may do more harm than good in the long terms as sites become LESS responsive to visitors needs - the opposite of what all other advice about quality web page should be. If you have any influence with the Google Search team you could ask them to start passing the keyword data gain - but I'm not being optimistic!

Automatically Email Google Analytics Reports

Just added last week was the ability to schedule a Google Analytics report  to run and then be emailed either to yourself or anyone else. It's a great method for checking critical figures, as well as reporting to anyone else involved in the site, like your boss or marketing department.

First, choose your standard or custom report from the reports list, and set an additional options, such as segmentation, previous date compare, the metric to display in the graph and the graph time period.

The reporting has not been around long enough to test ho the data selection works, but I would suggest leaving the data range on Yesterday, Last Week or Last Month to ensure you always get a useful date range.

Once you are fully happy with the report, open the report emailer by clicking on the 'Email' button just beneath the report name - it's currently labelled 'Beta'.

You will be presented with a new pop-up window with a bunch of options:

• From address is fixed to your login an cannot be changed, except by changing your main Google account.
• To is one or more email addresses that this report is to be sent to. Don't forget to include yourself if it is for multiple recipients. You need to separate the email addresses with a comma.
• Subject will be pre-filled based on the report, but depending on the number of reports you configure you may want to change this to be more descriptive.
• Attachments is the type of file to be sent. If you want to see the report in all it's graphical glory, select PDF. CSV creates a comma separated text file suitable for importing into a spreadsheet, database or other analysis system. Although they are just text, CSV files are not really suitable for reading in a text editor.
  TSV is similar to CSV, but the fields are separated with tabs instead of commas. This is mainly used by newer versions of Microsoft Excel, although most other spreadsheet and database systems can handle the files. The option is TSV for Excel makes a few minor changes to make the file look better in Excel.
• Frequency sets how often to trigger the automatic email. Set to once will turn off all automation, and just send the email one. Daily will send every day, weekly will send once per week and prompt you for the day to send it. The most common option will be Monday where the date range is set to 'Previous Week', but it depends on your needs.
  Monthly triggers once per month, and allows you to set the day of the month. Be careful using and day of month above 28th - it's not yet clear how this will work for shorter months.
  Quarterly emails once per quarter - there are no options for this, as the quarters are fixed.
• Advanced Options only appears where the report is schedules (not for 'Once') and allows you to set how long the report will be repeated for. The default is 6 months.
• The white space if for the email message. You must complete at least some text in the message box before you hit send.

If you have more than one report that is triggered on the same schedule, you can add them together as attachments to a single email for convenience. Instead of hitting the send button, click on the 'Add to Existing mail' link in the bottom right. If you cannot see it, you probably have not yet created any automated reports.

If you select this a new page will open with the various frequencies listed, select one, and tick the box on the email you want to add this new report to, and click save. I quite like using this for two purposes: grouping together various different weekly reports, and for adding a CSV file to a PDF report so you have both the pretty graphs and the raw data.

One thing missing on the current Beta version is the ability to easily edit the scheduled reports for timing or recipients. Once this function is added (or I can find where it is hidden!) I'll update this post or write a new one.

There is more help on Google Analytics reporting at the official Google Reporting Help section.

Google Analytics (Finally) Gets PDF Export, Auto Emails

It's a small upgrade, but anyone who has to compile reports for otehrs from Google Analytics will be delighted that they have now added a PDF export functionality to the new version of Analytics.

Previously, if we wanted to get the pretty graphs, a screenshot was about the only way to go, but you can now create a nice PDF of whatever report you are looking at, including custom reports.

To get a PDF of the current report, it's as simple as selecting the PDF from the menu:

Even better, you can now also use the email button next to the report to email the report in PDF to recipients of your choice. Set this up for weekly or monthly reporting and you can cut down a lot of manual copying and pasting.

Next post we'll look at the automatic report emailing options in more detail.